End of the Line
by Nythtak
Summary: One-shots chapters of various OCs and how they deal with the zombie apocalypse. "Cain, Day One: Bon appetite! 'You'd think the end of the world would come with a bit of a warning, wouldn't you'" T for language, mild gore.


**Cain **

_Day One: Bon appetite! _

You'd think the end of the world would come with a bit of a warning, wouldn't you?

There should be some sort of prophecy; a big Aztec tablet going on about 'fiery mountains' falling from the sky, or even a plain-and-simple 'you're all gonna die'. The scientists should've picked up on it somehow, made some device or something that'll detect things like that – what else were the four-eyed nerds good for (except doing your homework, ha)?Some big announcement by the president should've been made, interrupting the good cartoons that come on early in the morning, or during the news instead of some guy droning on about that stupid global warming gimmick. But nope, there was nothing. Nada.

So yeah, you couldn't blame Cain for being pretty damned surprised when it _did _happen. It was a Thursday afternoon of all days, just when you're winding down from almost a week of work and are looking forward to the weekend. You don't expect anything to happen on Thursday afternoons. It just ain't done.

At the time Cain was heading home, still in his crappy fast food uniform with its crappy hat and crappy logo of a grinning burger who looked way too damned _happy, _considering a chunk had been taken out of him (it. Whatever). Sometimes (all the time) Cain wanted to find whoever designed this shit and show him what _real _design was like, preferably using their face as a canvas. He liked to think he was a pretty good artist when he wanted to be (Art class in high school didn't count. Just because the bitch didn't like a bit of blood she got all pissy at him, the wimp).

Walking down streets as familiar as the back of his hand he didn't really pay much attention to where he was going, letting his feet follow the path whilst his mind wandered. He was thinking about the new girl who'd started working at the fast food joint the day before. She was real pretty; big brown eyes and the brightest smile you'd ever see, even when dealing with shitty customers, and a body that had many a guy taking a _long _look. Chasing after chicks wasn't really his thing – he'd let _them _do the chasing, thanks – but he'd had fun flirting with her today, watching as the blush across her cheeks grew darker and darker with every word out of his mouth. And hey, it definitely wasn't harassment or anything dumb like that when she'd been flirting right back! Maybe tomorrow he'd-

"Help me, please! H-help! Somebody!"

Cain stopped, frowning at the loud scream. It was definitely a woman – no man he knew could reach that high a pitch past puberty – and she sounded pretty desperate too. Looking around he spotted an alley a few metres away where the cries for help seemed to be coming from, the big buildings on either side casting shadows in the late afternoon sun.

He scratched his head under the crappy hat, hazel eyes on the alley. Should he help her? He wasn't a big damn hero, going off rescuing damsels in distress like it was his day job, and since he didn't know the gal then it wasn't like he had any sort of obligation either. It made more sense to just keep on walking, pretend he'd never heard her in the first place and leave her to her fate. He couldn't be blamed for inaction, right? Plenty of people stood by doing nothing when bad things happened, and they didn't suffer any consequences.

Just when he'd decided to get going Cain heard some sort of animal. It made a kind of…gurgling groan that was almost a growl, all low and rumbly but vicious too. What kind of animal made a noise like that, and what was it doing in the middle of a city? Was it a stray dog or something?

It was coming from the alley with the still shrieking woman _(shut up, damn it, you're giving me a headache), _which made him guess it was the growling thing causing her to scream so much. He really should leave it alone, but he was kind of curious about what it was. And when Cain was curious, there was nothing that could stop him until he was sated. Unlike a cat it hadn't killed him yet, so with his hands stuck in his pockets and head slightly ducked to keep the sun out of his eyes, he headed over to the alley.

First thing he noticed was that the screams had died down on account of the fact that it took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the shadows. Cain wondered if she'd gotten away or her attacker had silenced her, and his steps were slower – more cautious – as a result. He didn't want to go putting himself in more danger than he already was, even if the adrenaline was giving him a bit of a thrill. He'd always like'd this sort of thing; he was the kid that climbed to the very tops of trees and revelled in the height even when the branches threatened to snap beneath his trainers, the one who'd complete any dare just so he could be smug about it later. It'd led to him having a bunch of friends throughout school who loved watching him pull stunts that they were too scared to do, even if his parents got pretty pissed when he came home covered in cuts and bruises. Right now he wasn't scared at all, just curious and a little excited from the rush.

Then the smell hit. It was like…like the meat his dad had once let rot in a broken freezer, forgetting about it only to open the thing weeks later and throw up from the stench. Cain could feel vomit rising in his throat as his stomach rebelled but he forced it down, eyes watering and hand rising quickly to pinch his nose. It blocked out the worst of the smell but he could still remember it vividly; he was pretty sure he'd never forget such a strong scent. What the hell was causing it? Some dead animal or meat left out in the alley?

His vision cleared and the answer stared up at him in the form of blank eyes set in a snarling face _(Oh God what the hell is that thing?!)_. It…it _looked _like a tall man with curly brown hair and a tan, dressed in jogging bottoms and a green jacket with a hockey stick peeking out of the bag strapped to his back. But all Cain could see was the skin ripped away from his cheek, exposing the muscle underneath and torn back a bit around his right eye, making it look huge in his face. There was something _off _about his skin; it had this weird grayish tint to it and was peeling away in places like his arms and neck. Red covered his front and splattered across his face, like someone had flicked paint at him after painting his chin and chest. He wasn't looking at Cain; he was crouched over something, head dipping down towards it and _crunchriptearing. _

And the shrieking girl-

Cain choked out a gasp, eyes widening and a shaking hand pulling at his sleeve ("nervous habit, you'll grow out of it") as he stared. She was on the ground, hands raised in a twisted defence on either side of her head and body stretched towards the alley entrance, towards _him. _There was a stark horror on her faintly chubby face, her mouth still open like she'd start screaming for help right there and then, but the emptiness in her blue eyes told him she wasn't going to be doing any screaming, not any more.

_She's dead, _Cain thought numbly. _A second ago she was…she was alive and making all that noise, and now she's just…dead. And that man…_

The monster (it couldn't be a man, couldn't be human, _couldn't be) _was tearing into the girl's stomach, spilling blood _(oh God it's not paint) _and guts _(shit that's her __**intestines **__oh shit oh God) _all over the pavement like some kind of street art but it _wasn't _art and fuck she's _dead _and that thing is _eating her-_

Cain must've made some sort of sound because one moment the thing was enjoying its meal, next it was looking up him with those empty filmed over eyes and that hungry face, and Cain _ran _before it could do anything more than growl at him.

He ran, he fucking _ran, _and there was no way he was gonna stop until he'd put a hundred miles between that thing and him.

(He never did stop running, not until the end)

**. . .**

_A/N: Been watching a LP of The Walking Dead and reading WD fan fiction, so I decided to try my hand at the zombie apocalypse. Each chapter is basically a one-shot with different OCs and how they deal with the zombies, and they might show up again on a different 'day'. I've no idea when I'll update this but I hope you enjoy and review all the same, as some feedback would be great._

_Cain is a bit of a dick as I hope comes across here, but he's gonna be one of the…sanest of my OCs, I think. Came up with his personality out of the blue so he's not too fleshed out, but I hope his reaction was okay. _

_Again, please leave a review and let me know what you think. _


End file.
